A former Professor of Surgery, KMC, who had rendered yeoman service in district Wenlock Hospital, both as a surgical mentor and surgeon, Dr Yogish Pai passed away in Middlesborough, UK, on Friday.

He was 87.

“He was seen as a friend of the poor in the Wenlock hospital in 1960s and had been regarded as the best surgical mentor of the KMC Mangalore,’’ former colleagues and friends said.

“Born into a prestigious family in Kumble, Kasaragod district (Kerala), he was a Gold Medalist from C M C Vellore and obtained his FRCS from UK. He later joined KMC Mangalore in 1960,’’ a close associate of Dr Yogesh Pai and well known Surgeon Dr C R Ballal said.

Many eminent doctors, including Urologist Dr G G Laksman Prabhu, remember Dr Pai as a popular teacher who was instrumental in organising the first ever continuing surgical education program, on the lines of those organised by the Royal College of Surgeons, UK, in India in the early 1960s.

He was a close associate of Late Professor M P Pai and had helped the latter in initiating the first ever PG course in surgery in the erstwhile Mysore state.

Along with another illustrious teacher, Prof M Srinivasan the trio had established a fine department imparting surgical training. In the early 1970s, he migrated to the UK and became an orthopedic consultant and helped many Indian students to get trained in the UK.

“One special attribute of his that needs to be mentioned is Pai was very helpful to many Indian students preparing for the Fellowship,” Dr C R Ballal recollected.